24thMar2015

Coming this June from Archie Action its the continuation of the epic Sonic and SEGA, Mega Man and Capcom crossover Worlds Unite – which kicks off the month before in May. Courtesy of Archie, we have the latest solicits, featuring a milestone issue for Mega Man who hits the big five-oh (remember Sonic’s 50th, when Robotnik died? Seems like ages ago) and the premiere of a one shot comic Mega Man: Worlds Unite Battles #1, which expands on the battles taking place within the crossover event. Fans of older Archie stories, meanwhile, have Sonic Archives #25 which brings us ever closer to the 100th issue of the series.

MEGA MAN #50

Celebrate 50 issues of Mega Man with the latest chapter in the globe-smashing SONIC/MEGA MAN crossover event! “Worlds Unite” Part Four: Act One comes to its mind-blowing conclusion! Sigma’s plan reaches its first stage, and the worlds of Sonic and Mega Man have fused! It’s definitely going to take more than one hero to stop the threat from the future—maybe even ten! Sonic, Mega Man, X, Sticks, the Freedom Fighters, Robot Masters and Maverick Hunters—UNITE! PLUS: Stick around for a special bonus anniversary story as Mega Man and X meet for the first time! Featuring a wrap-around cover from the legendary Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante! PLUS 5 variant covers from Edwin Huang, Irvin Rodriguez, Patrick Thomas Parnell, Roger & Idalia Robinson and part 4 of the epic 12-part connecting variant cover series by artist Ben Bates!

22ndMar2015

So SEGA has been announcing a lot of games lately, and last week they decided to announce one more. And if you’re wondering just how anime it is:

It’s pretty goddamn anime. This anime game is called Miracle Girls Festival, and it features various anime characters from anime like YuruYuri, Wake Up, Girls!, Vividred Operation, and a bunch of other anime that my friends who are into anime will probably try to get me to watch. And as you can see by the UI, this game is gonna be a lot like the Project Diva games except will less vocaloids and more anime schoolgirls.

Featured SEGA Retro Articles of the Week

Look, a new thing that I added to the list! Here I’ll link to an article from SEGA Retro that’s pretty neat or possibly needs more work. First off, to keep up with the anime theme of this week’s article [Astro Boy]

18thMar2015

So SEGA put out a update for Sonic Runnerswhich you have to download if you want to be able to play the game, which is okay as long as you can download it. Except it’s not officially released yet outside of Japan and Canada, so Android users outside of those countries can’t update the game the normal way.

Thankfully, Neowl from our forums has uploaded the .apk file, so just install it on your Android device and you should be able to play the game again. And your save data won’t be lost by downloading it. Alternatively, you can also download the update through the Japanese QooApp store. You should also be able to download any future updates through that as well. iOS users should be able to normally update the game through the App Store.

As for what the update actually does, we don’t know the official patch notes but our forum members have noticed framerate improvements and that the game no longer closes when their phone goes into sleep mode. So you no longer have to worry about your phone going on stand by because of how long the loading screens are.

15thMar2015

This was a pretty good week when it comes to SEGA stuff, with them revealing new games and releasing 3D OutRun, a fantastic re-release of the original game with new features. And among the games they revealed was Tembo the Badass Elephant, an action sidescroller by Game Freak that’s coming to PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It was playable at EGX Rezzed earlier this week, and the first impressions from the couple of our forum members who were there are pretty positive. It’s always nice to see a new quirky sidescroller, so we’ll be looking forward to this one.

10thMar2015

So we all know that Hollywood loves to revive old movies and stuff. I mean, they’re even making two new Ghostbusters movies. But recently they’ve also started making more movies about games. There’s even going to be a movie about video games with Adam Sandler and Peter Dinklage. And as you probably already know, even Sonic’s gonna get a movie now. One that might be PG-13. So yeah, Hollywood is crazy.

And this is where I forget where I was going with this and instead made this Sonic doodle. Anyway, links.

8thMar2015

Okay so the SEGAbits gods thought that no longer linking SEGAbits and general SEGA stuff in Monday Links wasn’t such a great idea. But you know what’s a good idea? Still not linking them on Monday Links and instead doing a separate feature with just SEGA stuff and without the Sonic. So here’s a new feature that’s a recap of SEGAbits and SEGA stuff.

6thMar2015

To my friends at Sega of America: I, along with the video game historian community, believe the contributions you have made at work are worthy of preservation—and the fact that Sega of America’s Potrero Hill office is closing puts the preservation of precious historical material at risk. We’ve seen this happen before with Sega’s European offices and want to ensure that future generations know the value of the work you have done.

I will be in San Francisco for several days in April; as such, I would be happy to take any material you have under strict confidentiality—or any face punches for having made fun of the thing you worked on. Likewise, if you are planning to relocate to the greater Los Angeles area, I can meet up with you within a few days’ notice (and get some Eggslut or something, because LA.)

Any materials or documentation we collect will be held for an extended period of time, will be digitized and physical copies will be donated anonymously to Britain’s National Media Museum (or an equivalent American institution should one appear within the next five years.)

5thMar2015

Last week my ‘Something for the Weekend’ feature was on the subject of GameChops’ awesome new ‘Spindash’ album, full of dance remixes of classic Sonic tracks. Hopefully if you enjoyed that taste you looked a little more into GameChops and what else they’ve done.

PROTIP: There’s some mighty fine stuff there.

But I’m not here to link another playlist or album, not exactly. Today I actually wanted to talk about why GameChops, as a concept, is actually really cool and why you should be following them closely.

Founed by Dj CUTMAN, all of the music GameChops produces is video game-related. You could have probably guessed that – but did you also guess that supporting GameChops financially actually puts money in several pockets? This comes from the way in which the label operates through their partners at Loudr.fm. According to their website, ‘Loudr.fm is an incredible new platform for musicians who create cover songs, like our game remixes. In the past, acquiring mechanical licenses was an expensive and time consuming process. Loudr has revolutionized this by providing a distribution platform with built-in licensing.’

What this effectively means is that when an artist remixes a piece of video game music, be it Sonic, Mega Man, whatever you like; when you support that artist, you are actually supporting them and also the rights-holders of the original track. This effectively means that GameChops remixes are all officially licensed, after a fashion.